They combat violence with free food

CeaseFire presides over alternative to inner-city problems.

CeaseFire presides over alternative to inner-city problems.

August 31, 2006|NANCY J. SULOK Tribune Columnist

Eddie seemed to miss the point. The 14-year-old was among the crowd who answered the clarion call Friday night for free food. It was a cookout sponsored by CeaseFire, a 2-year-old local group trying to combat violence in South Bend. "He's the spark,'' Rey Newbill agreed a few days later. If CeaseFire can reach Eddie, other kids will follow his lead, said Newbill, the CeaseFire coordinator It might be a tough sell. Eddie looked around while standing in the food line with two buddies. Cookout organizers, he said, would have attracted a bigger crowd if they had served alcohol and provided musical entertainment. "That's what most people look for,'' the middle-school student declared. But that's not what they got Friday night. What they got was a healthy dose of nonviolence. It wasn't done in a preachy way, but rather in a more subtle demonstration that crowds can gather for socializing after dark on an inner-city street corner without fights or violence. Drug-dealing also stops when CeaseFire is around, Newbill said. Newbill set up the grill Friday night in front of the public housing office on Monroe Circle. At 8:30 p.m., the chicken and burgers were almost done, so a CeaseFire volunteer recruited a group of salivating youngsters to spread the word about the free food. They scattered and soon returned trailing neighborhood residents of all ages. At the same time, some of CeaseFire's 25 volunteers went door to door to hand out fliers about the group's mission and to invite residents to the cookout. CeaseFire brought enough food for 80 people, and within about an hour it was all gone. Gloria Willis, a black woman who lives in the Western Avenue Hi-Rise, said she is really concerned about the black community. "The violence should stop,'' she said while seated at a picnic table. The daughter of a pastor, Willis said she liked the way CeaseFire was reaching out to younger people. At the same time, she said, mothers need to change, to assume more responsibility for their kids, especially if they are raising families with no husbands around. Mothers need to lay down rules, Willis said, and to make sure their kids eat three square meals a day, with supper a sit-down family affair. Domenic, a 16-year-old buddy of Eddie's, said it was good that CeaseFire was there with its message of stopping the violence. Antonio, a 12-year-old who dreams of going to college, echoed those thoughts. He said he has a 23-year-old cousin in Chicago who was shot in the face. Antonio said he doesn't want that to happen to him. "Let people live their dreams,'' the sixth-grader said. Mark Dollinger, a spokesman for CeaseFire, said the whole idea is to let people see alternatives to crime and violence. In addition to the barbecue, CeaseFire sponsored a flag football game Sunday at the Martin Luther King Center. About 45 people showed up for the game that involved youths and police officers. They had so much fun, Newbill said, that another game is planned there on Sept. 10. This time, some firefighters plan to join the police, he said. The players get to know each other as friends, not adversaries. "We also have GED training and assistance, tutoring, résumé building and job training, as well as others,'' Dollinger said in his e-mailed invitation to the barbecue. "These programs are what we do to prevent violence in addition to responding when violence occurs,'' he said. The cookouts have been occurring monthly in different inner-city neighborhoods. Newbill said CeaseFire has been averaging about 10 calls to its office after each cookout. They come from people who need jobs, or who want help with their schooling, or just want someone to talk to, he said. He can speak to them with empathy, because he's been to jail and served time in prison for carrying a gun. He changed, Newbill said, when he got older, found the Lord and "wanted to grow up.'' He's 37 now. That probably seems impossibly old to someone like Eddie. But who knows? Maybe the way to turn him around starts with some barbecue chicken on a Friday night in August. Nancy J. Sulok's columns appear on Sundays, Mondays and Thursdays. You can reach her at nsulok@sbtinfo.com, or by writing c/o South Bend Tribune, 225 W. Colfax Ave., South Bend, IN 46626, telephone (574) 235-6234.